by Michael Blue
"Good boy!" Pamela chuckled.
Slowly reaching in, Pamela began to untie the rope from the dog's leg, and as their faces met, the dog licked Pamela's cheek. Happily accepting the kisses from the canine, Pamela was finished untying the dog in no time, and the dog was free to wander around. It got up and immediately dashed off, running off into the woods with glee. Pamela smirked and as the dog was out of sight, her smile faded. She stayed and watched for a minute or two, expecting the dog to return, but it didn't look like that was happening. It was probably running back to its owner or something.
Right now, any type of company would've been appreciated, even from a fellow dog. Turning away, Pamela continued her trek across the highway road. As she walked, she was coming closer to a cliff side that was right off the main road. Inching closer to the edge of the cliff side, she looked down to see a beautiful environment. Some spots were covered in beautiful over grown moss and algae. It made the landscape look so radiant. Beneath her were many rocks, some that even protruded out of the river that raced through. Although it was a very slope surface, climbing the cliff side was far too dangerous for Pamela. One slip up could turn into a very bloody accident.
Startled, Pamela jumped to the feel or something moist on her fingers. Quickly jumping and turning her head over, she saw the black Labrador right back at her side. It was only logical to guess the dog wanted more to eat.
"Sorry..." Pamela said smiling softly at the poor animal. She held the dog's head close to her thigh as she rubbed the soft fur on its head.
"If you stick around, we'll find something to eat..." she played.
At this point, it had probably been a day before she had last eaten something. She recalled drinking out a small stream nearby, but that wasn't satisfying for her. As she walked off, she looked to her side to see that the dog was staying behind,
"Boy?" Pamela called turning around.
Laying her eyes on the dog, Pamela saw probably one of the funniest things she had seen in a long while. The dog was urinating in the grass; funny thing about it is that it wasn't sticking either of its legs up. The young Labrador wasn't a boy, it was a female. Right after the dog was complete with her business, she pranced towards Pamela.
"Let's take a look at your name tag," Pamela said kneeling down to look at it.
Meanwhile grabbing the tag as delicately as she could, she read the name on it,
"So you're name's Chloe. What a cute name," she said talking to canine who was licking her face afterward.
Is this really what it had come to? Speaking to an adorable dog she didn't even know the breed of? She ruffled the fur on the dog's head meanwhile thinking of the only people she ever had during these past struggling years: her three children, niece and deceased brother. The family started off together but all broke apart one by one. It was like rebirth all over again; living together and then going your separate ways, whether it was death or not. The only child she had left was Joshua, the baby. Her youngest brother, Erlina's father, was her rock. He was everyone's rock. Even though he couldn't do much due to being legally blind and partially deaf, he was the primary source for having a smile kept on your face. She could remember the devastating memory of their short time in the quarantine zone back in Queens. She blocked it out. She stood up and clutched her assault rifle much tighter, adjusting the sling over her shoulder. If this meant going on a journey to save her children, so be it. If she died, she'd be happy to know that she died a fighter.
Continuing to follow the turning path of the highway, she came across a long wooden bridge. One thing that scared Pamela was how stable this thing was. It looked sturdy and it looked like no one had bothered it in a long time, but that was exactly the problem. Normally, overtime, construction workers would be the ones to repair old parts of a bridge and what not. However, she's only one woman and a structure this big should be able to hold her and a dog. Hesitating at first, Pamela walked unto it with no worries, trying to be as delicate as possible. The bridge had spaces and broken parts in some places, but it wasn't something too serious that could dismantle the whole thing.
While concentrating on making it safely across the bridge, she looked up and noticed a hydroelectric dam to her right. After, she stopped walking to the faint sound of what sounded like a man and young girl. Taking a look to see if they looked dangerous, she walked to the side of the bridge. Pamela wasn't worried about being seen or heard because she was too far up and the sounds of the roaring river drowned out any noise as they traveled deeper underneath the bridge. Odds were it wasn't Erlina, but it didn't hurt to double check. Following their voices she walked to the other side of the bridge. She kneeled down, carefully craning her head to see the two figures walk out from underneath. They were so far down it was hard to make out their faces. The girl appeared more mature than Erlina by a couple of years and looked nothing like her. She was fair skinned and had red hair tied it back into a pony tail. The man was pretty built; he had a full scruff that looked like it hadn't been taken care of in ages. He was probably a father or guardian of some sort, because he seemed to have a reasonable amount of weapons on him; you wouldn't want to mess with a guy that loaded.
Back to minding her own business, Pamela continued her walk. Within a minute, she was already on the other side of the bridge. Since she was now on the opposite side of the bridge, she had full, clear sights of what appeared to be a towering building that was hidden behind the tall trees of the forest that surrounded her.
"There's got to be some items in there. I just wonder if there's any infected, and if there are, how many...?" she questioned herself.
Turning down to look at the Chloe, she was surprised to see the young Lab missing from her sides again. Immediately her guards went up and she turned to see the dog on the opposite end of the bridge. Strangely enough, Chloe's attention drawn to something in the forest. Squinting her eyes to see past some of the droplets of water in the air, she noticed one infected Runner stagger after Chloe. Chloe was barking and growling but fell back after she realized that the enemy wouldn't fear her warnings.
"Chloe!" Pamela called.
Chloe turned and beamed across the bridge towards Pamela and eventually ran past her. The Runner sprinted towards Pamela, and she picked up a large rock before it dived on her. Getting hit a couple of times, Pamela managed to slap its blows away and jam the large rock into the head of the Runner. As dazed as the monster was, she took the opportunity to push it will all her might and toss it over the bridge, sending it crashing into the water beneath her.
Looking up, she saw two more other runners coming out of the forest from the far end of the bridge,
"Oh no..."
Pamela turned to dash behind the dog, and her shortness in breath came a lot quicker than she expected. She felt weak and fatigued. She kept trying to keep up with Chloe, but she could no longer go on. She was jogging at this point and she ran into the exact area that she spotted above the trees: A power plant. Unfortunately, there was just one problem: It was fenced off and barricaded with a bunch of crates and junk. The other side of the fence seemed to be the only way to enter the premises. Chloe had all her teeth shown, and was snarling at the two runners that managed to find Pamela.
Panicking on how she was going to fend off two Runners, terrified her. She wasn't sure how many more bullets her magazine had left, but she wasn't going to waste it on both. Quickly equipping the rifle she held the grip firmly with her left hand and had her right hand on the trigger. Firing, the weapon shot out a couple of bullets per second and hit the Runner directly in the chest. Blood sprayed out its wounds and it hit the floor as quickly as the other began charging. As the second runner made its way to Pamela, she lifted her leg slightly, and kicked the Runner back, giving her time to reach into her back pocket and pull out her cleaver. Using her cleaver, she swayed her arm straight to the side of the Runner's face, cutting as deep as she ever did as it ran right into her blade. The cleaver made its way in through the back-top of its head along
its jawline.
As it fell back to the ground, Pamela walked over the body of the Runner and attempted to take the cleaver from its head, but it wouldn't budge free. She yanked as hard as she could, but it would only end up lifting along with the Runner's head.
What Pamela didn't know was that from behind, a Clicker was hearing all the commotion. He staggered towards her quickly, and once it was guaranteed that a human was in its path, it went berserk, flaring its arms all over and screeching it's loudest. In uttermost surprise, Pamela turned, thinking her time was up. That's when Chloe jumped to her aid and threw the Clicker off its course. Taking out her rifle one last time, Pamela pulled the trigger. The two last bullets came, out, shooting the Clicker in the back and leg. It didn't flitch a muscle, and Chloe was yelping at this point.
"NOO!" Pamela shouted running behind the Clicker.
The Clicker turned around to feel it getting itself repeatedly struck in its over-grown, fungal protected head. Aggravated, the Clicker tackled Pamela and overpowered her by bum rushing her backwards into one of the crates by the fence. Using her empty rifle as defense, she held it up to the Clickers throat to keep it from biting her face. She was becoming weaker, and his thirst for blood was overpowering her. Her arms were struggling to stay erected, and the Clicker was coming closer towards her face.
"Oh, God! No!" she said groaning in exhaustion.
Suddenly, without warning, a gunshot flew straight through the head of the Clicker, and then another soon after. The Clicker's scream faded and it slide down from her chest. Pamela yelled in surprised and was frightened to the point where her heartbeat was off the charts. She was in shock, looking around for more enemies. She searched relentlessly and then heard a woman's voice call out to her.
"Are you bit!?" she heard.
Pamela didn't answer. Her heart was still racing, and she continued to scan the area with her eyes. She looked up to see a blonde woman with a rifle along with other people pointing their firearms at her.
"Ma'am, are you okay?" she heard again; this time, a man's voice.
Pamela's vision blurred up and she dropped her arms weakly, eventually feeling the same in her legs. Her body collapsed, and she opened her eyes slightly to see the plant's door opening. Chloe ran beside Pamela's body and sniffed her. She couldn't move a muscle as she noticed about three men climb the fence. Hearing Chloe, her barks and the men's voices faded into a minor ambience. Within seconds she fell insensible.
* * *
Pamela felt somewhat dazed after waking up, however, she felt more comfortable too. She couldn't remember much of what happened after almost dying. She woke up to see herself lying on a comfortable mattress on a bunk bed. She groaned and turned over, finding a little difficulty to even sit up from the mattress. She noticed the cut underneath her eye had been attended to after feeling a band aid on it. As she sat up, she looked around to see a few others people bunking in the same room. It wasn't completely clean, and it was a little filthy, but it was as clean as it was going to get compared to all the other places she'd been.
"Rise and shine," said the man sitting in a stool near the flight of stairs in the room.
He was a young good-looking man, with long hair, some stubble and a Texan accent. He wore an all denim attire with a shirt underneath his denim coat. He walked beside her and rested her plate of food on the floor with a cup of grape juice. Looking at it, there appeared to be some bread, meat and fresh fruits. She stared at the plate for a minute and looked up at the man,
"Look, I know you're probably wondering what's going on, but there's no need to worry. You were beaten up pretty badly. We cleaned some of your scrapes and bruises and cleaned a little from a small bruise on your head."
He sat back unto his stool and faced her.
"Your dog gave us a little trouble taking you in. We had to get about six guys to try and carry you over that fence. But no worries, she's sound asleep in the other room. Also, your assault rifle is being reloaded right now just in case you choose to leave...or stay."
"Where am I?" Pamela questioned.
"You're in a power plant."
Evidently.
"I know that, but I meant where; what city? What town?"
"Jackson County, Wyoming."
Pamela placed her head down and slowly shook her head, placing her hands on her face.
"Is everything alright?" he asked.
She looked up in disbelief,
"I was just searching for my family in Nebraska... and before you know it, I end up in Wyoming?"
The stranger paused and looked down, giving himself some time to think.
"How long ago did you get separated from your family?"
"It was just my twenty year old son and my twelve year old niece. It's probably been a week and a couple of days now. We ran into this gang of mobsters, or whatever, who tried to kill us...we tried escaping."
"I'm sorry to hear that. That's quite a walk for a woman like you," The man made his way out of his stool and reached over to grab his hunting rifle, "I'm surprised you survived this long," He stuck out right hand and offered Pamela a handshake,
"Name's Tommy."
The aura that glimmered off the young man wasn't like any other person she had encountered. He had a warm spirit, and she could sense it. Normally, she would've interrogated him to the point where he would've admitted something sinister, but she felt a different vibe. What changed it all was when she noticed other people passing through the room, none of them seemed threatened or threatening. She nodded and grabbed Tommy's hand, shaking it quite firmly. She felt a little pain in her hands from earlier trying to fight off those monsters, but she endured it.
"Pamela."
"Mind if I called you Pam?" Tommy asked with the most Texan flavor to his speech.
Pamela blushed and shook her head and Tommy continued speaking,
"Well, Pam, I suggest you eat up and get some of your energy back if you plan on leaving. However, I recommend you stay. Gathering your strength for a couple days is what I'd recommend. I know you've got a family and all, but..."
He sighed,
"Sometimes, it's better to not take any chances,"
Pamela turned away, by the sounds of those words. She still couldn't face it. She didn't want to. A few seconds later, a man walked in telling him about a couple of more intruders outside of the plant. He reassured Pam that he'd back and to stay inside at all costs in case anything went wrong. She watched him leave without any reply, and grabbed her plate of food.
* * *
After some time, Tommy reentered the building, but with another man this time. If she was correct, it seemed to be the same man that was with the little girl she saw when crossing the bridge. She kept that to herself however. She turned her body, facing the wall and heard the two males talking to one another, which eventually led to the other one telling Tommy that he needed to speak with him in private about something. Since it wasn't any of Pamela's concern, she didn't care. She just decided that'd she'd be better off having some form of relaxation.
However, that's when her nightmares began. Ominous images flickered off and on in her head.
"Early! Stay close!" she heard her voice echo.
She heard people's screams being cut off and on as the scenes did the same.
"Pamela! Pamela, where are you!?" she heard her brother's voice call out over the people's screams and cries.
"Martin? Martin! MARTIN!"
A loud gunshot ended all of the noise.
Autumn
* * *
Months passed in the blink of an eye. It was relieving to finally be in a place where people kept track of time and everyone cared for one another. It was like one great big family. Of course there were still some haunted by their skeletons in the closet and some who chose just to not get along with anyone. People like that had the whole "lone-wolf" mentality, but that was nonsense in a time like this. It was such a long time since Pamela had last seen her son and niece. She was beginning to show
signs of depression and becoming easily agitated, but tried to keep a cool head. It was something everyone understood because everyone knew her story. She didn't like everyone knowing her business to be honest, but it was the way of the camp.
Ever since Pamela was rescued, she had earned herself a good title at the plant; she was a care-taker and an amazing cook. As of recently, she had gotten much closer to Tommy and Maria, Maria more specifically. Maria was a young woman and Tommy's beautiful wife. She saw much of a daughter in Maria as well as Maria saw a mother-figure in her. Being there all this time had helped Pamela in numerous ways, ultimately defining her into a fighter she never knew she could become.
Early that chilly morning, it was just Pamela and Maria. They were both out on horseback, returning from their hunt. Maria and Pamela bonded very often and made a pretty good team. It had been one of those days again where all they found with some squirrels and two or three rabbits.
"You did pretty well back there," Maria spoke.
Pamela didn't answer. She was riding the horse, daydreaming and seemed to be too far out. That's when she heard her name get called out twice.
"Pam? Paaaam?"
Pamela looked up and turned back to Maria and gave her a warm smile.
"Sorry, sweetie I was thinking about something," She paused for a moment, "What'd you say?"
Maria chuckled,
"Is everything okay? I said you did a great job back there..." Maria replied a little worried.
